With a band name styled in ALL CAPS and “kvlt and tru” spelling, you know you’re going to have some sort of preconceived notion of the Des Moines-based metallers DIEZELEATER (Should it technically be DIEZELDRINKER?) and I won’t tell you mine. The album cover of Couthless Aggression, made by graphic designer mysteriousfour, features an oversaturated hand clenching a bloody machete, and is a nice riff on 1980s horror movie posters. The vibe piqued my interest, so consider me engaged (I was before, promise).
Scrolling through Bandcamp, their first tag “crossover” fits them quite well. There are three clear influences, and perhaps surprisingly, given the timbre of the vocals and occasional slammy-ness, I found “hardcore” to be quite present. Outside of that, as the tags confirm, they clearly live in the parallel worlds of death and thrash.
In the first track, “Flames Ov Fury,” the guitars take the lead. If you’re looking for something close to an Obituary-esque tone, it’s definitely right up there. I was pleased to hear elements of stereo panning, and the understated dynamics are an aural delight. The lyrics “I poured the gas, I struck the match, your bedchambers fill with vapors, vision blurries, start to worry, walk down to flames of fucking fury” are perhaps on the nose, but they certainly create a visual.
I’m glad to say that the reappearance of the “kvlt and tru” spelling (realistically, probably not in earnest) definitely did not prejudice my listening experience, and the first track defied my expectations. Good thing first impressions are often wrong.
Consistently throughout the album, I really welcomed the variety in tone presented by the guitars. From the gritty to the melodic, they are both well executed. The guitar solos, often quite intricate, act as a brief reprieve amidst the overall crunch. The solo in “80 Grit” is a perfect example, as it makes its way through, but never overshadows, the heavier world below.
In an interview with radio host and fellow reviewer Mason Fall, the band members, who all knew each other from high school, disclosed that they asked themselves: “Man, what if we just started like a big-riff metal band?” The band performs it to a T: Couthless Aggression is riffy and the compositions fit together seamlessly. The album is mixed very well, and one can appreciate that while each instrument has its own unique voice, they very much come together as a unified whole.
There are some smaller moments that create a true sense of subtle musicality (see the guitar harmonies in the final track, “No Couth”). Obviously there is a certain irony to this, given the not so subtle name of the band.
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This article was originally published in Little Village’s November 2025 issue.
